A new report says the imminent antitrust lawsuit against Apple could be filed by the Justice Department as early as Thursday, over the ongoing issues of blocking rivals access to some of the features of its iPhone.
The pending lawsuit was reported Wednesday by Bloomberg, which indicates the suit could be filed in federal court “as soon as Thursday.” At its heart, the suit will reportedly accuse Apple “of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features of its iPhone.” It’s likely Apple will face many of the same objections as those highlighted by Epic Games in its App Store lawsuit and by the EU in its Digital Markets Act. According to the report the suit “escalates the Biden administration’s antitrust fights against most of the biggest US technology giants,” a lawsuit has already been filed against Google, and two more from the Federal Trade Commission target Meta and Amazon.
Bloomberg says this “is the first case accusing the iPhone maker of illegally maintaining its dominant position,” and was opened all the way back in 2019 under President Donald Trump. The case has been on hold while the DoJ prioritized its fight with Google.
The DoJ comes knocking
Previous reports indicated this lawsuit could be filed as early as March, rumors that now seem to be bearing fruition. The DOJ was previously said to be “focused on how Apple has used its control over its hardware and software to make it more difficult for consumers to ditch the company’s devices, as well as for rivals to compete.” Specific issues highlighted include Apple Watch’s much better interoperability with the iPhone than other brands, iMessage, Apple Pay, and the App Store. That final point could be the seed of sweeping app distribution changes on iOS like the ones that we’ve seen in the EU. Apple recently opened up iOS app distribution to alternative app marketplaces like Setapp, reducing its commissions in the process. Apple has also announced a form of sideloading it calls Web Distribution, which will allow developers to offer software to iPhone developers directly from the web.
The DOJ lawsuit is expected to drop as early as Thursday.
